Once Again
by TuneMoon
Summary: NaLu-focused AU - After years of pain, Lucy Heartfilia finds refuge on the streets of Magnolia as a common street busker, until a fiery red-headed woman flies into her life, with a deal and a whirlwind of change following in her wake. As time and wounds heal, Lucy discovers that her life is changing - but luckily, a certain pink-haired pyromaniac is there for her, once again.
1. Prologue

As a child, I had always known where I belonged.  
My voice.  
It wasn't your typical cosy, warm cottage surrounded by sun-speckled forests - it was a haven for me. When I was lost, my voice would bring me home. When I was sad, my voice would light up my world. When I was lonely, I was alone with my voice. Some say I was introverted.  
I wasn't.  
Quite the opposite.  
I just never knew how to speak my feelings. No matter how hard the world seemed, I was always happy inside. My mother had been the living embodiment of happiness for me; and now she was my voice. Everyone's voice.

I knew there were other people out there exactly like me. Weak from pain and loss. Strong with song and spirit. I needed to find them. We all needed each other, I just know it. The cobble path was slightly warm underneath me, as a small cloud drifted over the sun, casting a gentle shadow over my world. I lifted the microphone to my mouth, the cable wound around one of my wrists. There were many of us here, but none of them were like me. Distant piano echoed around me, while the soft melodies of a flute filled my ears.

They were all beautiful, but they weren't me. They weren't us. I set down my speaker, and flicked it upwards. People kept walking past. No wonder. I hadn't even begun. But I knew, when I did, they would listen. They would all listen, and they would all understand. And as soon as my mouth closed, and the speaker's recording faded, the black walls of reality would fall over their faces again. It was definite. But I existed to push away those walls, even for only a few minutes. Today, I would gift the people of Magnolia with 4 minutes and 21 seconds of uncaged freedom.

It was their choice to listen or not, but I was here, singing out the words for myself, and for them. This was my world, and it could be theirs' too, if they listened. If they stopped, just for a moment, breathed, and listened. For me it was life-changing, knowing they were waiting for my to sing out the ending notes. For them, I was no-one - a shadow who had the courage to step out and sing for strangers. A simple busker searching for a quick few dollars, or some money to rebuild their life, bit by bit. I flicked on the microphone, pressing the red button in, before it came out again. Reaching down, I pressed the familiar play button, exhaling softly. Time to be the girl in the street again. The one who's name no-one knows, but still know of.

I pushed a few strands of my blonde hair out of my eyes, and stood up. The music began. I smiled - I could practically picture Levy playing the piano, her slender fingers dancing rhythmically over the white and black keys. I lifted the microphone to my mouth, and closed my chestnut eyes. The starting keys moved around me, before Levy's piano decreased in volume.

" _Shadows settle on the place that you left,  
Our minds are troubled by the emptiness,  
Destroy the middle,  
It's a waste of time,  
From the perfect start,  
To the finish line,"_

My voice rang out through Magnolia, and everything seemed brighter for me. No one was noticing yet, but I was here for them, pouring out my heart and soul for them all to see, the sorrow, the joy, the friendship, the love. I had opened myself to the world - all they had to do was turn their heads and watch me.  
Watch me.  
All of you.

" _Well I've lost it all I'm just a silhouette,  
A lifeless face that you'll soon forget,  
My eyes are damp from the words you left,"_

One jewel,

" _Ringing in my head,  
When you broke my chest,"_

One jewel,

" _Ringing in my head,  
When you broke my chest,"_

One jewel,

If none of these people ever know how I act towards others, then at least let them hear just one line.

" _And if you're in love, then you are the lucky one,  
'Cause most of us are bitter over someone,"_

Notice me, notice me, notice me.

" _Setting fire to our insides for fun,"_

A flash of red caught my eye, before moving past me again, like every other person.

" _To distract our hearts from ever missing them,"_

My eyes darted downwards, mid-note, and my brown orbs widened. 10,000 jewels?

The red shade stood in front of me, and I slowly cast my gaze up, notes pouring out my lips.

"But I'm forever missing~"

"That's the first payment," a steely voice interrupted, as Levy's piano began to decrescendo.  
"There will be more,"  
I raised my head to look up, and was met with a calm, dark brown gaze, strands of red hair falling over them. The woman reached out and grasped my thin wrist with an iron grip.  
"You'll get more jewels, if you come with me right now. Congratulations, by the way. You have a lovely voice."

And my life began to change - for better, or for worse.  
But most likely the latter.

 **A/N: This is my first fanfiction (ever) 3: Sorry for any grammar mistakes, OOC moments or anything else that may occur #~# I'm trying my best~ I hope everyone who reads** ** _Once Again_** **enjoys it, and thank you for reading!**

 **\- Tune-chan**


	2. Chapter 1

p dir="ltr"strongA/N: Hello, everyone! Sorry for the dramatic change in mood between the Prologue-not-a-Prologue and 1 - the P-n-a-P just felt right to me¯\\_(font face="Nimbus Mono L, monospace"span lang="zh-CN"ツ/span/font)_/¯Also, sorry if first person PoV bothers you - it's just how I decided to write the fic. If you're that way inclined, read it in your mind as third person, I don't really know (×_× )Hope you enjoy! /strongbr /strongDisclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. It and all it's characters belong to Hiro Mashima. The only thing that belongs to me is the plot and AU./strong br /br /The woman grabbed me by the wrist and tugged me away from my space with no hesitation. emI hadn't even said "Yes".../em Eyes widening, I stretched out my arms "Hey! I wasn't done yet!" Whenever I'm taken away from my music, it tends to get a bit messy. "That equipment cost me my LIFE SAVINGS!" My microphone banged into the ground, causing a grotesque thud to ring out around Magnolia. "I'll buy you a new one." The woman said bluntly, pulling me along by my wrist as I practically bawled my eyes out over my life savings gone to waste. I turned my copper gaze onto the back of the woman's head, eyes glinting in an almost anime-esque way. "Lucy... Kick!" Eyes slowly turned towards me as my worn, sneaker-clad foot hit dully onto the woman's palm. I sweatdropped. "Don't assault me." The woman said slowly, and something inside me clicked. This woman would not take any BS./p  
p dir="ltr"I choked on my awkward laughter, as I extended my hand. "Go ahead, drag me anywhere you want, lady." I said, without a hint of sarcasm. The woman's eyebrow twitched ever so slightly, but she took my by the elbow anyway. Whenever another pair of eyes fell onto us, I simply gave them a glare, and they soon fell back. I clutched the money in my hand, crunching it into my soft palms. Will this be worth it or not? I stared down at my hand, narrowing my brown eyes briefly. emThis is just the chance I need - it's been a long time since I've received substantial pay…/em "Um, scary lady, what's your name? I mean, it's clearly not scary lady… Uhhhh…" The redhead glanced down at me as she pulled me through the crowd "Erza Scarlet. Music producer."/p  
p dir="ltr"My jaw A music producer? You've got to be kidding… /emShe looked down at me, dark eyes alight with triumph that she had shocked me. emCreepy… /emI blinked slowly, before shaking away the remaining shock from my mind "Just because you're a music producer doesn't mean you get to drag me literally across town…" If I had a free arm or two, this would be the perfect cross-arms moment./p  
p dir="ltr""Did you forget about the payment?"/p  
p dir="ltr""emO-of course not! /emDrag me wherever you want!"/p  
p dir="ltr"•••/p  
p dir="ltr"The redhead walked ahead with a purpose in her stride as she made her way to a large, stone and brick building. I trailed along behind her, shaking my wrist every few seconds to get fresh air on the pale red marks where Erza had gripped my arm. How come every person with an awesome career has to look so cool? Erza's red hair swung over her shoulders in such an anime-esque way that any passing otaku would probably scream in delight and ask her to cosplay with them. The white blouse and blue skirt she was wearing complemented her figure, but still made her look as fierce as ever. emI'm in the presence of a music producer - Erza Scarlet, by God… /em/p  
p dir="ltr"The woman spun around suddenly, and I jumped back, palms facing outwards, eyes wide. "What's your name?" She said with urgency in her voice, and stern seriousness in her gaze. "Uh… Um… Why do you want to know?" My stranger-danger instincts kicked in at the worst possible moment, a small smirk riding on my lips./p  
p dir="ltr""Need I remind you about the-"/p  
p dir="ltr""The jewels, nonononono! It's fiiiiine! I-I'm Lucy."/p  
p dir="ltr"Erza squinted at me curiously "Lucy… and your surname?"/p  
p dir="ltr"I gulped, and hid my quaking leg "Um… McGarden! Yes! Lucy McGarden."/p  
p dir="ltr"emCrap. If Levy hears about this, she'll think I'm- Oh great./em Erza nodded slowly, before whisking around again, my wrist once again in her hand./p  
p dir="ltr"emBy the end of today, my wrist will be dead…/em/p  
p dir="ltr"Erza pulled me along with a fire in her heart and her eyes "You've got the talent, but you seem to be lacking in the… Overall knowledge department." My eyebrow twitched, but I laughed it off "Yeah, yeah…" Suddenly, the fiery woman stopped in her tracks, and I crashed into her back. I jumped back, reeling away "OhmygodMissScarletIamsosorrypleaseforgiveme~" Erza seemed to ignore the sudden outburst, and her expression stayed neutral. emHow come her neutral expression is so scary, too…?/em I grimaced half-heartedly, pushing away the sneaking thoughts of 'How on earth did this lady become famous?' and 'Does she have a secret alter-ego that has a mainly freakish personality?'. "We're here." She stated, a hint of pride concealed in her voice "My studio."/p  
p dir="ltr""Wow… Soooo… Your studio was only like, 50 metres away from my busking position in the first place?"/p  
p dir="ltr"Erza gasped, her mouth hanging open, dark eyes wide. She straightened up suddenly, and a spark glinted in her eyes "This was an important bonding experience, Miss. McGarden_" I inwardly winced at the name she used "_between producer and future client!"/p  
p dir="ltr"Soon, my face matched Erza's from earlier./p  
p dir="ltr""F-future c-cl-client?"/p  
p dir="ltr"Erza nodded passively, like it was the most normal thing to ever be uttered to an essentially homeless stranger-girl that she had met literally only a few minutes ago, and only spoke to judging on her singing voice. I stood up, determined to not make a bad impression - though it was probably a bit late for that. I rearranged my black tank top, and prepared myself for what was waiting inside the building in front of me. Erza took off the strap of fabric around her neck, revealing a business card that had a picture of the woman herself, eating what seemed to be a slice of strawberry cake, eyes sparkling animatedly. Yet again, my mind wandered the wastelands of who on earth this woman actually was. I followed after her cautiously, opening my mouth once again to speak "So… Were you just walking past when you found me oooorrrrr…"/p  
p dir="ltr"She turned around to look at me again, sliding the business card into her cleavage so casually it seemed to be normal. "Do I look like someone who would just walk around looking for people with talent?"/p  
p dir="ltr"I paused./p  
p dir="ltr""Uh…"/p  
p dir="ltr""...yeeesssss?"/p  
p dir="ltr"Erza simply shook her head slowly "What do you take me for, Miss. McGarden?" emA wrist-grabbing, street-walking, song-producing, microphone-dropping stranger?/em "Nevermind~" I followed in Erza's footsteps along the clean corridor. "But, to answer your question, I did find you in a more… Convenient way, so to speak." I detected the hint of pride in her voice in a split second, so I decided to roll with it. Erza pushed open a large, white door, and darkness flooded into the brightly lit hallway. Faded images flashed around the room, and Erza stood there, hands on her hips in triumph. "The Watchroom." She said pridefully./p  
p dir="ltr""Doesn't this count as… stalking?"/p  
p dir="ltr"Coughing, she continued leading me in the room, the grip on my wrist tightening even more, if that was physically possible. I followed her red strands of hair through the black, before we reached the screens. I quickly found my spot on the streets on one of the bright screens, a red circle surrounding what must have been my face. My equipment was there, safe and sound, at least,/p  
p dir="ltr"emGod, I hope they got permission for this… Am I getting money from criminals? I hope not… /emErza stood in front of the screens, eyes glinting I squinted closer at the screen, but jumped back in surprise "HOLY SH-" I screeched, as a figure dashed past the camera, and left./p  
p dir="ltr"Taking my equipment with them./p  
p dir="ltr"I gaped at the screen for a split second, watching my pride and joy in life; my cheap microphone, be stolen away before my eyes./p  
p dir="ltr""FORGET THE MONEY, I BOUGHT THAT MYSELF~" And faster than you could say "Lucy's real last name is Heartfilia and she ISN'T married to Levy", I was out the door./p  
p dir="ltr"strongA/N: Oof, it's alright if you squint. Sorta satisfied with this I guess? Thanks for reading! /strong/p 


End file.
